Almond & Pecan Chocolate Christmas Tree

What better way to spend Christmas-time with family and friends, than tearing into a delicious puff pastry Christmas tree together, filled with delicious nutty chocolate spread and crunchy pecans, it makes a perfect centrepiece to decorate any festive spread!

Ingredients

  • 2 x 320g Chilled ready rolled puff pastry sheets 
  • 1 Egg, beaten 
  • 30g Pecans roughly chopped
  • Icing sugar, for dusting

Nutty Chocolate Spread Ingredients

Method for the Nutty Chocolate Spread

  • Start by making the nutty chocolate spread. Pre heat oven to 190C/170C fan. Place the almonds and hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes – mix the nuts around on the tray half way through.
  • Once roasted leave to cool completely, then roll vigorously in a clean tea towel to remove any skins.
  • Place the nuts in a food processor and blitz until mostly smooth and runny, this should take around 8 minutes. Stop the processor regularly to scrapes the side of the bowl into the mixture.
  • In a medium microwave safe bowl, microwave the chocolate in 20 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth then stir in the condensed milk and honey.
  • Add the chocolate mixture into the food processor with the nuts and pulse until just combined. Set this aside for later – there will be some left over you can enjoy over Christmas too!

Method for the Christmas Tree

  • Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan and line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
  • Unroll both puff pastry sheets and place onto your lined baking sheet, one on top of the other. Cut through the pastry layers into the shape of a Christmas tree, start with cutting out a long triangle then cut out a small trunk at the bottom. Using the left over pastry cut a large star for the top of the tree. You can refrigerate the remaining left over pastry for extra Christmassy treats.
  • Once the tree shape is finished, remove the top layer of pastry and set to one side. Spoon and smooth the nutty chocolate spread all over the base pastry sheet then sprinkle with the chopped pecans. Replace the top layer of pastry over top of the first one.
  • Lightly score 2 lines down the middle of the triangle, the same width as your trunk. Using the trunk as a guide, cut branches into the sides of the triangle, approximately 2cm wide all the way up.
  • Starting at the bottom, twist each branch twice away from you.
  • Place the pastry star on top of the tree, securing with a little beaten egg, then brush the whole tree with beaten egg too.
  • Bake for 25 minutes, or until risen and golden brown. Cool for a few minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Transfer to a serving plate or board and dust with icing sugar to serve.

For more easy baking recipes using Lily O'Brien's Chocolate visit our Chocolate Blog